http://www.monashreport.com/2006/05/22/after-techleb/ Technology ... politics ... marketing ... strategy ... life Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:05:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.3 http://www.monashreport.com/2006/05/22/after-techleb/#comment-464 The Monash Report»Blog Archive » Tue, 23 May 2006 21:07:48 +0000 http://www.monashreport.com/2006/05/22/after-techleb/#comment-464 [...] One theme at TechLeb was that developing countries need to focus their efforts on particular technology industry subsectors.  It’s a lot easier to come up with a government program that’s really effective for a few kinds of businesses than it is to come up with a plan for strengthening “all” kinds of enterprise.  And of course it’s crucial to get to a critical mass, so that proven success – and proven successful people — in an area spawns more opportunities in similar ventures. [...] [...] One theme at TechLeb was that developing countries need to focus their efforts on particular technology industry subsectors.  It’s a lot easier to come up with a government program that’s really effective for a few kinds of businesses than it is to come up with a plan for strengthening “all” kinds of enterprise.  And of course it’s crucial to get to a critical mass, so that proven success – and proven successful people — in an area spawns more opportunities in similar ventures. [...]

]]> http://www.monashreport.com/2006/05/22/after-techleb/#comment-461 The Monash Report»Blog Archive » Incubator possibilities and essentials in the developing world Tue, 23 May 2006 05:12:51 +0000 http://www.monashreport.com/2006/05/22/after-techleb/#comment-461 [...] I came away from TechLeb with some very interesting mixed messages about incubators, science parks, technology trade zones, whatever. (Jacques Masboungi’s talk on the subject was particularly interesting.) On the one hand, they seem to be one of the best things governments can do to foster technology development. On the other hand, they seem to be one of the easiest ways governments can screw up. And since no two projects are the same, it can be hard to generalize from experience. [...] [...] I came away from TechLeb with some very interesting mixed messages about incubators, science parks, technology trade zones, whatever. (Jacques Masboungi’s talk on the subject was particularly interesting.) On the one hand, they seem to be one of the best things governments can do to foster technology development. On the other hand, they seem to be one of the easiest ways governments can screw up. And since no two projects are the same, it can be hard to generalize from experience. [...]

]]> http://www.monashreport.com/2006/05/22/after-techleb/#comment-460 The Monash Report»Blog Archive » Government initiatives that went awry for technology development Tue, 23 May 2006 00:13:14 +0000 http://www.monashreport.com/2006/05/22/after-techleb/#comment-460 [...] The Q&A session to my TechLeb panel did produce a couple of interesting observations. Perhaps the most instructive was I asked for “unsuccess” stories of government intervention — things governments tried to aid tech businesses that didn’t work out so well. Most of the answers all boiled down to the same thing — throwing money at ill-conceived ideas. These could be economically-motivated research projects that never produced much of economic value — Japan’s Fifth Generation Computer Project is a prime example, but there are many similar developed-world fiascos. (Basic research and even military research seem to produce more benefits by serendipidity than economically targeted research does in total.) Or they could be incubators and science parks to which nobody much ever came. But basically, most of the answers amounted to over-optimism about specific initiatives. [...] [...] The Q&A session to my TechLeb panel did produce a couple of interesting observations. Perhaps the most instructive was I asked for “unsuccess” stories of government intervention — things governments tried to aid tech businesses that didn’t work out so well. Most of the answers all boiled down to the same thing — throwing money at ill-conceived ideas. These could be economically-motivated research projects that never produced much of economic value — Japan’s Fifth Generation Computer Project is a prime example, but there are many similar developed-world fiascos. (Basic research and even military research seem to produce more benefits by serendipidity than economically targeted research does in total.) Or they could be incubators and science parks to which nobody much ever came. But basically, most of the answers amounted to over-optimism about specific initiatives. [...]

]]> http://www.monashreport.com/2006/05/22/after-techleb/#comment-459 The Monash Report»Blog Archive » Government initiatives needed for technology development Tue, 23 May 2006 00:10:27 +0000 http://www.monashreport.com/2006/05/22/after-techleb/#comment-459 [...] That’s the good news. The more challenging point is that there’s a LOT involved in “barrier removal.” Categories include but are not limited to (and of course I picked a lot of this up at or in connection with TechLeb, most particularly from Kevin Carroll): [...] [...] That’s the good news. The more challenging point is that there’s a LOT involved in “barrier removal.” Categories include but are not limited to (and of course I picked a lot of this up at or in connection with TechLeb, most particularly from Kevin Carroll): [...]

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